View
221
Download
0
Category
Tags:
Preview:
Citation preview
History of the Study of Cognition Aristotle proposed laws for learning and memory
and emphasized the importance of mental imagery
Wilhelm Wundt used introspection to study conscious experience
Hermann Ebbinghaus studied human memory Gestalt psychology studied how we organize
what we see and hear - perception Studied insight in problem solving
Sept. 11, 1956 symposium at MIT and the rejection of the behaviorist approach George Miller Noam Chomsky- Linguist Jean Piaget- Swiss psychologist Computer Science- information processing approach
Metacognition
Knowledge of and awareness about our own cognitive processes You know what tasks are easier for you and
what are easier for your friends Knowledge about our cognitive processes can
guide us in arranging circumstances and selecting strategies to improve future cognitive performance
It is important for us to understand how we think and why we think the way we do
Thinking Changing and
reorganizing information stored in memory in order to draw inferences and conclusions
Creates new information Thinking involves two
forms of mental representation Mental Images Concepts
Mental Images
Image: a mental visualization of an object or experience
Symbol: something that stands for or represents a specific object or event $ or %
Analogy – analogy bet. the word and the image it creates
Mental Rotation
The ability to hold and manipulate mental images helps us with many cognitive tasks
Spatial abilities Mental imaging can
spark creativity
Conceptual Thinking Concept: a mental category
for classifying people, things, or events
Prototype: a representation of a concept A prototype has most if not all
characteristics of a concept The robin is the prototypical
bird while the penguin is not Stereotypes
Overgeneralizations of characteristics of a group
Rule: a statement about relationships between concepts
Schemata (Schema) Generalized ideas that represent generic
concepts we store Conceptual frameworks that a person uses to
make sense of the world Pigeon-holes that we put things in to help us
organize our concepts Leads to a set of expectations When we discover a new idea that is different
from our concept we either assimilate or accommodate the idea Assimilate an idea is to change the idea to make it fit
into our schema Accommodate an idea is to change our schema to
make it fit
Deductive Reasoning
Reasoning from the general to the specific For example, start with a general statement: All
cars have tires. You can apply this general statement to specific
instances and deduce that a Ford Escort, a Toyota Camry, and a Mercedes Benz must have tires.
Series problems
review series of statements arrive at a conclusion not contained in any single
statement For example: Robin is funnier than Billy Billy is funnier than Sinbad Whoopi is funnier than Billy Q: Is Whoopi funnier than Sinbad? Q: Is Whoopi funnier than Robin?
SyllogismsPresent two general premises that must
be combined to see if a particular conclusion is true
Syllogism ExampleAll Intro to Psychology students love
their instructor.You are all Intro to Psychology
students.Must you love your instructor?
Syllogism QuestionsAll of the scientists are professorsAll of the professors are clever people
Therefore all scientists are clever peopleAll geologists are backpackers.Some nature lovers are geologists.
Therefore, some of the nature lovers are backpackers
All ministers are gardeners.No gardeners are English professors
No ministers are English professors
Mental models theories
To solve a syllogism, you might visualize the
statements All Intro to Psychology
students love their instructor.
You are all Intro to Psychology students.
Must you love your instructor?
Psych-ology
Psych-ology
Psych-ology
Bi-ology
Bi-ology
Bi-ology
Bi-ology
Mental models theories
All Intro to Psychology students love their instructor.
You are allBiology students.
Must you love your instructor?
Psych-ology
Psych-ology
Psych-ology
Bi-ology
Bi-ology
Bi-ology
Bi-ology
Inductive Reasoning Sherlock Holmes is
perhaps a better example of INDUCTIVE reasoning than deductive reasoning
He takes specific clues and comes up with a general theory
Inductive reasoning18 16 14 ?? ??12 10
Rule? Decrease by 2Q: Why inductive reasoning? Answer: Take SPECIFIC numbers (i.e. 18,16,14) and come up with a GENERAL rule (i.e. decrease by 2)
Finish the sequence problems
30 24 18 ?? ?? ??12 6 0
1 3 2 4 ?? ?? ?? ??
Rule?Decrease by six
Rule?Increase by two, decrease by 1
6453
Finish the sequence problems 2 3 10 12
Rule?Increasing numbers starting with the letter “t”
13 21 31
39 200 201 299 300 301
20 29 30 32
302
2000 399
22
Chess problem
Two grandmasters played five games of chess. Each won the same number of games and lost the same number of games. There were no draws in any of the games. How could this be so?
Solution: They didn’t play against each other.
Nine dots problem
Without lifting your pencil or re-tracing any line, draw four straight lines that connect all nine dots
Mental Set
Q: Why couldn’t you solve the previous problems?
A: Mental set - a well-established habit of perception or thought
Nine dots mental set
Most people will not draw lines that extend from the square formed by the nine dots
To solve the problem, you have to break your mental set
Functional fixedness
type of mental setinability to see an object as having a
function other than its usual one
Mounting candle problem
Using only the objects present on the right, attach the candle to the bulletin board in such a way that the candle can be lit and will burn properly
Answer to candle problem
Most people do not think of using the box for anything other than it’s normal use (to hold the tacks)
To solve the problem, you have to overcome functional fixedness
FramingTo create a situation that causes people
to draw conclusions that you wantLike a picture frame sets the boundaries
of a picture limiting your vision to the framed picture
Confirmation bias
Only search for information confirming one’s hypothesis
Looking at only information that reaffirms your earlier beliefs Often reaffirms stereotyped thinking
Example: reading newspaper columnists who agree with our point of view and avoiding those who don’t
1. Break mental sets and functional fixedness 2. Find useful analogy 3. Represent information efficiently 4. Find shortcuts (heuristics) 5. Establish subgoals 6. Turn ill-defined problems into well-defined
problems
Strategies for solving problems
Mnemonic Device to Solve Problems
IDEALIdentify problem
Define problem
Explore solutions
Act upon
Look back
Strategies for Problem Solving Algorithm: a step-
by-step technique used to solve a problem
Heuristic: a “rule of thumb” problem-solving technique
Two general classes of rules for problem solvingAlgorithms - things the old vice-
president might sayAlgorithms - rules that, if followed
correctly, will eventually solve the problem
An algorithm example
Problem: List all the words in the English language that start with the letter “q”
If using an algorithm, would have to go through every single possible letter combination and determine if it were a word i.e. is “qa” a word; is “qb” a word etc. This would take a very long time
Instead, what rule could you use to eliminate these steps?
Rules for “q” problemSkip ahead and assume the second
letter is a “u”Assume the third letter has to be a
vowelThese types of rules are called
heuristics
Heuristics Any rule that allows one to reduce the number of
operations that are tried in problem solving a.k.a rules of thumb or shortcuts Faster to solve the problem (find the answer) but not
guaranteed to find a solution Two types of heuristics:
Available Heuristic Representative Heuristic
Availability heuristic Judge probability of an event by how easy you
can recall previous occurrences of that event. Most will overestimate deaths from natural
disasters because disasters are frequently on TV
Most will underestimate deaths from asthma because they don’t make the local news
Representative HeuristicRule in which people and things are
judged by the degree to which they represent a certain category Prototype matching Judging symptoms similarity to a disease
Chris is 6’7”, 300 pounds, has 12 tattoos, was a champion pro wrestler, owns nine pit bulls and has been arrested for beating a man with a chain.
Is Chris more likely to be a man or a woman? A motorcycle gang member or a priest? How did you make your decision?
Chris story
Steve story
Steve is meek and tidy, has a passion for detail, is helpful to people, but has little real interest in people or real-world issues.
Is Steve more likely to be a librarian or a salesperson?
How did you come to your answer?
Representativeness
Judge probability of an event based on how it matches a prototype
Can be goodBut can also lead to errorsMost will overuse representativeness
i.e. Steve’s description fits our vision of a librarian
Most will underuse base rates
Base rate - probability that an event will occur or fall into a certain category Did you stop to consider that there are a lot
more salespeople in the world than librarians? By sheer statistics, there is a greatly likelihood
that Steve is a salesperson. But very few take this into account
Guess the probabilities
How many people die each year from:Heart disease?Floods?Plane crashes? Asthma?Tornados?
Stop
ConvergentA type of thinking that is based on
knowledge and logicThinking inside of the boxMultiple choice testLeads to the correct solution
Divergent Thinking The ability to generate unusual but
appropriate responses to problems or questions
Thinking outside of the box Usually leads to many different solutions to
solve one problem Brainstorming
Come up with as many ideas as possible before choosing one
No idea is too stupid or silly
Creativity The ability to use
information in new and original ways
All problem solving requires creativity
Creativity includes flexibility
Recombination and insight
Insight Aha!!!!!!!!! Sudden awareness of the
relationships among various elements that had previously appeared to be independent of one another
Anagrams and the string problem
Wolfgang Kohler’s multi-stick – Sultan solution
Phonemes Individual sounds that
are basic structural elements of language
39 basic phonemes 100 different and
recognizable sounds Phonology
The study of the smallest unit of sounds
MorphemesThe smallest unit of meaning in a given
languageMade up of one or more phonemesPhonemes are units of sound,
morphemes are units of meaning
Syntax Language rules that
govern how words can be combined to form meaningful phrases and sentences
Syntax varies from language to language
SemanticsThe study of meaning in languageThe same word can have different
meanings Prostitutes appeal to the Pope. American sentenced to life in Scotland.
Language: Turning Thoughts into Words
Properties of Language Symbolic Semantic Generative Structured
Language Development:Milestones Continued
18-24 months – vocabulary spurt fast mapping over and underextensions
End of second year – combine words Telegraphic speech Mean Length of Utterance (MLU)
End of third year – complex ideas, plural, past tense Overregularization
Bilingualism: Learning More Than One Language
Research findings: Smaller vocabularies in one language,
combined vocabularies average Higher scores for middle-class bilingual
subjects on cognitive flexibility, analytical reasoning, selective attention, and metalinguistic awareness
Slight disadvantage in terms of language processing speed
2nd languages more easily acquired early in life
Greater acculturation facilitates acquisition
Stages of Language Development
Birth/infancy: cries, distress
2 months: cooing 4 months: babble 9 months: babbling
is refined
Can Animals Develop Language?Dolphins, sea lions, parrots, chimpanzees
Vocal apparatus issue American Sign Language
Allen and Beatrice Gardner (1969) Chimpanzee - Washoe 160 word vocabulary
Sue Savage-Rumbaugh Bonobo chimpanzee - Kanzi Symbols Receptive language – 72% of 660 requests
Theories of Language Acquisition
Behaviorist Skinner
learning of specific verbal responses
Nativist Chomsky
learning the rules of language Language Acquisition Device (LAD)
Interactionist Cognitive, social communication, and
emergentist theories
Stages (continued) By 1 year: single
words are uttered Holophrases
By 2 years: two words together (50–100 words) Telegraphic speech
By 4 years: complete sentences
How Do Children Learn Language? Learning-theory
approach B.F. Skinner and operant
conditioning Behavior is reinforced
with smiles and attention Children understand
before they speak Children learn language
through observation Mimic speech
Noam Chomsky
Nativist Theory Innate ability to learn a language
LAD Language acquisition device Mechanism or process that facilitates
the learning of language Infants possess an innate capacity for
language
Transformational grammar Surface structure
Sentence structure and word arrangement
Deep structure Underlying meaning of the sentence
Critical Period TheoryPsycholinguist E. Lenneberg
Critical period or a window of opportunity to learn a language
Probably before the age of 5
Recommended